• Bookstore

They give a representative picture of what people in England think, and how they behave, across a range of issues relevant to the environment, including transport and waste recycling.

Of the issues people think government should be dealing with, the environment was the fourth most commonly mentioned behind crime, health and education.

About a quarter of people agreed with statements such as "It takes too much effort to do things that are environmentally friendly", and "I don't believe my behaviour and everyday lifestyle contribute to climate change". However, about half disagreed.

Three quarters of people believe that if most people in the UK recycled more, cut down their car use or flew less, it would have a major or medium impact on the UK's contribution to climate change. However, although 60% of people believe quite a lot of people are willing to recycle more, less than a fifth think a lot of people in the UK are willing to use a car less, or fly less.

Over a half of people report that they never leave the TV on standby overnight, their mobile phone chargers plugged in nor lights on in rooms when not in them. However, approximately a fifth say they always leave the TV on standby overnight, and a similar proportion that they always leave the tap running when brushing their teeth.

The proportion of people recycling paper, glass and plastic has almost doubled since 2001. In 2007 approximately three quarters of people said they recycled these materials, mainly via regular doorstep collection.

Attitudes to the Environment
When asked about their attitudes toward the environment, 67% of people strongly agreed or tended to agree that "humans are capable of finding ways to overcome the world's environmental problems". However, only 19% strongly agreed or tended to agree that "Scientists will find a solution to global warming without people having to make big changes to their lifestyles". A similar proportion, 17%, strongly agreed or tended to agree that "Climate change is beyond control - it's too late to do anything about it".

Approximately a quarter of people strongly agreed or tended to agree with range of non-environmentally friendly statements such as, "I don't believe my behaviour and everyday lifestyle contribute to climate change", or, "The environment is a low priority for me compared with a lot of other things in my life". 18% agreed that "It takes too much effort to do things that are environmentally friendly".

When asked without prompting what are the most important issues Government should be dealing with, the greatest proportion of people, 49%, said crime. 47% mentioned health or social services, 36% education and 19% the environment. These were also the top 4 answers in 2001, although the proportions of people mentioning health, education or the environment have fallen from 58%, 43% and 25% respectively, while the proportion of people mentioning crime has increased from 30%.